Alternative Giving Organizations

Know your charity before you give!

Read the consumer tips for your state, such as Consumer Tips & Frequently Asked Questions from the Washington Secretary of State. Other sites to research charities are the Better Business Bureau's charity rating site and Charity Navigator. Another such site is GuideStar.org, but they require registration and agreement to a prohibitively long legal document and provide only very limited information for free.

As this list only covers charities that sell alternative gifts, it is only a small fraction of all the wonderful charities out there. If your favorite charity doesn't offer gift cards, you can create one yourself.

Organizations with Global Outreach

Please refer to the legend for explanations. Entries are sorted by the time I became aware of them. Most were added 2007. I have not rechecked all old entries yet.

Organization	Program	Area of concern	IRS	%	BB	Other	Kind	Style	From	Notes
Heifer International	Gift Catalog	hunger, caring for the earth	c3	75		s	card/encl.	P	$10
Church World Service	Best Gift Catalog	sustainable self-help	c3	85			card/encl.	P	$10	cards
Susila Dharma USA	25 programs	humanitarian service, sustainability	c				card/encl.	E	$10
Nonviolent Peaceforce	Peace Bond	human rights, deterring violence	c3	78			certificate	P	$10
Eastside Friends Meeting (Quakers)	Iraq card project	peace	-				card	H	$2
Snow Leopard Trust	Snow Leopard adoption	environment, local people	c3	92			adoption +	P	$45	+cards+
Alternative Gifts International	34 programs!	global community	-				any			; 20 years
Trees for Life	Plant a Tree	empower people; plant fruit trees		80	12		certificate	P	$10
Seva Foundation	Gifts of Service	compassion in action	c3	79			card/encl.	P	$20
Ten Thousand Villages	Shop	fair trade	c3	76			arts&crafts		$1
National Audubon Society	gift membership	conservation of habitat and wildlife	c3	70			membership		$20	+living tribute
Clear Path International	Clear Path gift cards	land mine victims	c3	87			card/encl.
GlobalGiving	grassroots projects	helping charities worldwide	c?		14		card/encl. +	P	$35	+ gift certificate
Prosthetic Hand Foundation	Give a Gift - Give a Hand	land mine victims	c3?				card		$50
Partners International	Harvest of Hope	Christian mission	c3	81			(certificate)		$6
Medical Benevolence Foundation	Alternative Giving	International health-related mission	c3	80 +			card/encl. (sig)	P	$2
Agros International	One Seed Gift Catalog	Poverty alleviation	c3	71			(card, self-print)	P	$25
TisBest Philanthropy	Charity Gift Cards	meaningful gifts	c3				ID-1	PS	$10
Helping Children Worldwide	Gift Catalog	Endemic poverty	c3	92			card/encl.	P	$5

Organizations in Washington

Please refer to the legend for explanations.

Organization	Program	Area of concern	IRS	Other	Contact	Phone	Location	ZIP	Kind	From
The Whale Museum	Orca Adoption	stewardship of whales	-	s			Friday Harbor	98250	adoption package	$35
Church of Mary Magdalene	Beauty&Strength	homeless women	-		Elise	206-621-8474	Seattle	98104	calendar	$10
Tent City		homelessness	-	B		206-448-7889			card/encl.	$5

Legend

Organizations and Programs

Gifts and Notes

Organization	Name of the organization and link to its homepage
Program	Name of the program or project. Links in this column often also go to contact information.
	On-line shopping for alternative gifts
Area	Area of concern according to the organization
IRS	IRS code - indicates if the organization is a charity or a commercial fundraiser. Links go to government sites, usually to charity profile reports.
c3	501 (c) (3) - charity
c	registered charity (probably 501 (c) (3) )
x-r	exempt for religious purposes
-	Not listed in Washington Database
%	Percentage of total expenses that went to program services. (read more ...)
	Clearing house that passes a percentage of 85% or more to charities. Percentage that goes to stated goal depends on benefiting charities.
BB	Meets the 19 or 20 standards for charity accountability by the Better Business Bureau.
Other	Indicates other criteria we verified
	We endorse the organizers. (Click on the heart to see why.)
	rating at Charity Navigator; 4 stars is highest (click on picture for profile)
B	We know beneficiaries who are happy with the organization
	endorsements or awards by others. (Click on the plus sign for details.)
s	We tried out the online store
	There is an entry for this organization at guidestar.org

Kind	Kind of a typical gift.
card/encl	a greeting card with an enclosure (a little piece of paper describing what the donation is for)
self-print	print out your own certificate
arts&crafts	The category arts&crafts is not exacly within the scope of AlternativeGving.org, but we're including Ten Thousand Villages for their pioneering merits.
ID-1	gift card in ID-1 format like those from store chains.
(certificate)	Certificate (or card) on request
+	further kinds available
(sig)	If requested, the card will be sent to the donor to personally sign and send.
Style	Style of gift.
P	Professional; enclosures are printed
E	Economical; e.g. a simple photocopy as an enclosure
H	Hand made
S	Option to self-print
From	Price of the cheapest gift
#	Package: E.g., cards may be packed in sets of 5. Click on link for details.
Notes	Anything that doesn't fit in the other columns
	Program has a contact in Washington state. Currently, this page is focused on Washington; we will be happy to highlight other regions when we find volunteers there, too.
	additional items not available through on-line shopping (available e.g. at fairs)
	This organization provides a gift registry (for such events as weddings)

Information that has not been verified is shown in gray text.

The lists here are only a start. We are happy to extend them - please visit the Get Listed page if you'd like us to include or change the entry for an organization.

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